Well hello there! I know, I’m rubbish. Like some dodgy ex that comes crawling back with a paltry offering…and a feeble apology. So here I am with the latest playlists (worth waiting for I’m sure). And I’m not helped this morning because I’m being distracted by some wierd, slowed down, gentle guitar love-in version of Live and Let Die. OK, so you’ve heard the excuses but where are the goods I hear you cry?

Well this is what we played on Wed 20 Oct:

Sparrow and the Workshop in session! This band are ace – top tunes and lovely, lovely people.

School of Seven Bells – Heart is strange
Still Flyin – Stay wild, tokelau
Magic Kids – Hey boy
PVT – Window
Sparrow & the Workshop (BCB Session) – Devil song
Yann Tiersen – Palestine
Blonde Redhead – Here sometimes
KORT – Picking wild mountain berries
Dirty projectors – As I went out one morning
Sparrow & the workshop (BCB Session) – Just what I needed
SBTRKT – Look at stars
synthetic phonics – got my lovin
Peppermint Lounge – African orange. (Two lads in Leeds who mash it up, playing tunes that cut across genres & make you happy) http://www.myspace.com/thepeppermintlounge
Declining Winter ( Epic 45 Remix) (Pudsey’s Fourth best band – not sure who’s top trumping them but their live performances are intense and brilliant) http://www.myspace.com/thedecliningwinter
Sparrow & the workshop (BCB Session) – Medal around your neck

And on Wed 13 Oct:

Gary Stewart in session! No, we’re not performing a miracle and bringing back the country musician and songwriter…we’re talking about the Scottish chappy who lives in Leeds and whose debut album ‘Boy Cries Wolf ‘ is out now. http://garystewart.tumblr.com/

Darwin Deez – Lucky number
Wilder – Skyful of rainbows
Archie Bronson Outfit – Chunk
Orange Juice – Rip it up
Maggie Oh (BCB Session) – Gary Stewart
Zola Jesus – Sea talk
Women – Eyesore
Thorns (BCB Session) – Gary Stewart
Cissy – Adolphus (Leeds band. These guys are lots & lots of fun and on the greyest most miserable day, when my eyes could barely open, I looked at this sight and have been blind ever since!)http://chinchillaweb.co.uk/CHINCHILLA-BANDS-CISSY.htm
MEN – Off our backs (If you’re like me you’ll enjoy watching their video of Credit Card babies…it’s a bit naughty. If the Cissy site doesn’t blind you this will…) http://www.myspace.com/men
Maia – Sidelines (Huddersfield boys – coming in for a session on 3rd November! Sidelines is my favourite track from their album & the acoustic session version is superb).
The Lodger – Let’s make a pact (More loveliness…If I ever organised my records, I’d file these guys next to Au Revoire Simone, Belle and Sebastian..that kinda mood) http://www.myspace.com/thelodgerleeds
Gary Stewart (BCB Session) – In the pines

I’ve had loads of firsts recently; being in a bar sitting next to a table of six men, early twenties drinking wine(!), being in the hairdressers sitting next to a man having frosting on his hair…what’s the world coming to? Men?! Anyway this is a minor digression from the main meat. I had the absolute pleasure of going to a burlesque night called ‘The Wet Spot’ at the Wardrobe in Leeds. Now for those who think burlesque is for smug, middle class, Radio 4 types who like to think they’re cultured but aren’t really - get lost. 

There are loads of things that make ‘The Wet Spot’ a great night. It’s a mixture of cabaret and burlesque which works really well. If it was all clothes off, jiggle tassles then I might find it a bit repetitive (like James Bond films) but it isn’t. The one thing that struck me more than anything (no, not the agility of some ladies – always knew that!) was the humour. I fell in love with a man (who definitely won’t ever love me back) called Dusty Limits. He made Abba & Take That songs rude and for some reason that appealed to me. If you ever get the chance to see him you should grab it all with both hands – he won’t mind. Then there was Pippa the Ripper, who did things that have got to be seen to be believed with hula hoops, now where else are you going to find her? And the clever, suprising songs that the ladies did their turns to (think Nickelback…) And last but not least, the charming hostess Ryvita Von Cheese…she’s a saucy one. If that’s got you going then get yerselves along to the final show of 2010 on Saturday 20th November.

And if you’re still reading this (thank you…) on Wed 27th Oct we’ve got The Twilight Sad in session! http://www.myspace.com/thetwilightsad